Open Your Eyes and See
by LiveLaughLurve3
Summary: What happens when Puck starts paying more attention to everything that Rachel goes through and he doesn't like what he sees? Read the Prologue for the story set up. Involves Puckelberry lovin' and Cherryford friendship. May contain sensitive themes.
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on**_

_Open Your Eyes and See_

**Prologue:**

Puck was never, ever playing rock, paper, scissors for control of the remote again. He was moaning and groaning next to his little sister as she watched some stupid Disney channel show when his mom walked in yelling (which really wasn't unusual for her), "Noah Isaiah Puckerman."

Upon hearing their mother calling him by his full name Sarah turned to look at him, eyes wide and giggles fighting to escape her lips, "Ooooh, Noah's in trouble."

Puck rolls his eyes and bumps into her shoulder, throwing her off balance while telling her to, "Shut it squirt," but a small part of him knew that his sister was right. If his mother was using his whole name he was in trouble. Hearing her calling him again, her voice getting closer to the living room Puck sent his little sister up to watch television in his bedroom, the young girl jumping at the chance to spend time in the his room because normally she was banned from coming further than the doorway, except on the occasions when his mother would send her up to wake him up.

"Noah Isaiah!" He couldn't help but cringe at her use of his middle name, knowing that whenever she threw that into the mix things were going to go to shit for him.

As soon as his mother walked into the room she shot up from the couch, "Seriously mom whatever it is I swear I didn't do it."

Her laughing throws him off. He doesn't know what's going on but he knows that whatever it is it should be interesting, "Exactly. You have done absolutely nothing. That's the problem!"

"Umm…what?"

"I went to the dry cleaners today and do you know who I ran into?" Puck didn't have an answer for her but he was saved the chance to even offer one by his mother continuing on her tirade without pausing for more than a second, "Rachel Berry was there and she was dropping off a few outfits with horrible, brightly colored stains on them. Blue, red purple. So I asked her how something like that may have happened and she tried to get out of giving me an answer but eventually she gave in a told me that some of the kids in your school think it'd funny to throw slushies at her and a few other selected individuals."

At that point all Puck could think was 'Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!' Taking a shot in the dark all Puck could do was pray that Rachel hadn't decided to completely rat him out and tell his mother that he used to be one of those kids, "Well shit Ma it's not like I'm throwing them at her," Anymore, he silently amended, "You have heard of this little thing called free will haven't you? 'Cause the thing is people at McKinley have it and that means I can do shit all to make decisions for other people."

"Don't even give me that Noah! I've seen you around your peers. You have influence, plus god knows you've never had a problem getting into fights before, what's so different this time?"

Puck groaned internally. He knew there was no point in fighting his mother on this but he didn't know anyway to get out of the situation either. A part of him, the part that had gotten slushied during their week long relationship that consisted mostly of stolen moments making out, knew that she didn't deserve to get slushied. Knew that she'd never done anything that could be bad enough for her to be showered in slushie every day.

"What do you want me to do Ma, beat on every kid who picks on Berry? 'Cause seriously I'm good but that's a hell of a lot of people, some of them girls, and I'm pretty sure they'll win. Plus it's not like she even really cares that much. I mean obviously she doesn't like it or anything but it's not like she bursts into tears or anything which is more than I can say for Hummel who nearly screeches for a day spa whenever he gets a slushy facial, whatever the fuck a day spa is."

"Noah are you honestly trying to tell me you don't think she cares about all of this? That the fact that her schoolmates think it's funny to douse her in slushy when she's done nothing to even come close to deserving it doesn't upset her?"

"Well…no…I mean sh-"

"And I have a hunch that if they're throwing slushies at her for no reason they probably don't have a problem doing other things to torture her, despite the fact that she probably never even retaliates."

"Well I mean yeah they do some other stuff but seriousl-"

"So let's get this straight, they throw slushies at her, and I'm guessing call her names and make up rumors about her, probably among other things, and you still think she doesn't care? That this all just rolls off her back and it doesn't matter at all?"

"Okay well no I'm sure she cares but…I don't know Ma Berry's one of the strongest people I know. She never lets anyone see that what they do has any effect on her. When she gets slushied she just turns around and gets cleaned off. And it's not like they single her out. Even I've ben slushied." '_And then Rachel was there for me to help me clean myself up and forgive me for ever doing that to her in the first place,'_ He amended silently, _'And she sat on my knee in the teeny tiny black skirt, and I could tell that all those rumors about her wearing granny panties were total shit. Seriously I think she might have been wearing a thong…fuckin' hot as he-' _

Puck was pulled out of his dirty thoughts by his mother speaking again, "Oh Noah…do you really think that the ability to hide your emotions equates to being strong? Do you really think that shoving everything away and never showing anyone how you really feel is healthy let along being strong?"

Puck didn't open his mouth but the look on his face was apparently enough confirmation for his mother, "She's not as strong as you'd like to believe. All the signs of her vulnerability are there. Just open up your eyes and you'll be able to see them. She may want to think she's that strong and you might want to believe it's true but she's not. No one is."

That was how Noah Puckerman found himself standing against his locker Monday morning, watching Rachel Berry as she walked into school.

_A/N- I know it's short but this is just setting up the story. Let me know what you guys think while I work on the next chapter. Oh and this story is dedicated to Kuuleialoha1 who was reviewer 159 of my fic Brand New Me. What I was originally planning as her one-shot sort of evolved and became more than one chapter could handle. _


	2. The Wonder Twins

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on. **_

_Open Your Eyes and See_

_Chapter One:_

Noah Puckerman was a lot of things. He was a badass, an epic stud, a sex shark, and a hot Jew. Some said he was a bully, others said he was a sex god, or God's gift to women. One person even went as far as to call him a Lima Loser.

One thing he wasn't was an idiot, no matter how much he felt like one at the moment. He blamed it on the epic dose of Jewish guilt his mother had piled on top of him the night before. Seriously, woman was scary good with the guilt. And it wasn't like he didn't already feel bad (Read: completely guilty and responsible) that Rachel got slushied. But seriously, he'd stopped throwing them at her, and there was only so much he could do.

And yet there he was, at school over half an hour early, leaning against his locker which happened to be right across from Berry's, waiting for her to get there. He wasn't going to do anything, but his mother had seemed convinced that underneath all of her…Rachel…she wasn't as strong as she wanted everyone to believe and all the shit everyone pulls on her actually really bothered her.

He didn't necessarily buy it. She was Rachel. It was weird to admit but she was one of the strongest, most confident, in your face people he knew. That was part of the reason people messed with her so much.

Still, thanks to his mother's very special brand of Jewish guilt, he was there, waiting for Rachel and wondering where the hell she was. She hadn't necessarily been on his radar all that much, what with giving his daughter away at the end of last year and then trying to get over losing his daughter all summer. He'd been trying to be a better person since the start of the school year but for the most part he'd just been out of it. He'd seen Rachel in glee but he hadn't taken all that much notice of her either way. She was always just kind of there, and most of the time Puck was trying not to fall asleep because he'd been having trouble actually sleeping at night, instead finding himself wondering about Beth for hours on end. Whether she was happy, how big she'd gotten, had she laughed for the first time yet. He'd been trying to fly under the radar for the most part, and that tended to involve him spacing out for some reason.

Pulling his phone out again to check the time Puck couldn't help but wonder where the hell she was. He may not have been up on all things Rachel Berry lately but if there was one thing he knew about her from his slushie throwing days it was that she liked to get to school super early. So where was she? He'd already checked the choir room and the auditorium on his way into school to make sure she didn't get there before him.

"Hey man." Jumping Puck cursed loudly as he turned his attention from Rachel's unoccupied locker and onto Mike and Matt,"Whatcha doin?"

Turning to Mike he raised one eyebrow, "Nothin' man. What's it look like?" Without wasting a second Puck quickly turned his attention back towards Rachel's locker. Where the hell was she? School started in ten minutes and she wasn't here yet.

Matt answered this time, laughing as he did, "I dunno man. I've never seen you stare so hard at anything unless there were naked women involved."

Rolling his eyes Puck didn't even turn his attention towards the wonder twins, instead just throwing a casual, "Shut up assholes," over his shoulder. His attention towards Rachel's locker didn't go unnoticed however, "Wait isn't that Rachel's locker? Come on Puck I thought you gave up on slushying her?"

As if on cue as soon as Mike said her name Rachel made her way into the school, Puck's eyes following her as she walked towards her locker. He blinked a couple of times trying to see if he was seeing things but no matter how many times he blinked it was still the same. He couldn't believe it. Rachel Berry was wearing jeans. And a sweatshirt. Rachel Berry looked like any other normal student at William McKinley, "Dude, do you even see a slushy in my hands?"

"Well…no but still. She's got it bad enough lately, I'm just making sure you don't make it worse for her." Puck turned to look at Mike, the look on his face asking the question he had yet to verbalize, "Dude where have you been? Most of glee's been like ragging on her constantly about everything, like seriously I don't think I ever thought I'd see the day when I looked at glee and thought Santana was one of the nicest ones in there. I don't even know the last time I heard her sing a solo, or even fight to try and get one. She stopped wearing her normal clothes and now she's always in baggy jeans or sweats and I don't know if it's just me but seriously I think she's getting tinier. I didn't even think that was possible."

Puck searched his brain, trying to find any memories since the beginning of the school year that would help him; anything that even had Rachel in the background. With all his searching he still came up empty and wondering how so much could have happened without him realizing it. The fact that she apparently wasn't being her crazy, loud, obnoxious (_sometimes cute, _he reasoned.) self should have at least tipped him off.

Before Puck got the opportunity to respond, two hockey jerks made their way down the hall, dumping two Mega Big Gulp (the largest size they had) slushies over Rachel's head, laughing as she closed her eyes, diverting her gaze away from them and towards the floor as the rest of the students in the hall laughed and pointed.

This wasn't the Rachel Berry he knew. He'd slushied her enough to know her M.O. and this wasn't it. Usually she'd keep eye contact the entire time, staring him down like she was daring him to actually throw it or like she was searching for something in his gaze. Usually she'd act like nothing had happened, instead moving right to her locker, grabbing her clothes and walking down the hallway like she was wearing the latest fashion only to reappear out of the girls' room ten minutes later like nothing even happened. Noah Puckerman knew enough about Rachel Berry to know that when she kept her gaze away from anyone, no matter how hard he tried to catch her eye, and scurried away towards the girls' room that something was wrong.

_Fuck_, was his mother right?

**A/N: Okay I know it's short and I suck but it's just to get the story rolling. Plus, last night's episode was good, but nowhere near as inspiring I was hoping it would be. Puck like literally said less than Mike. What was up with that? But he's still hot though. And did you guys see Mike's bare chest? Okay admittedly he looked a little gay in that scene with the matching shorts and jacket, no shirt and tube socks but still. Sexy! And Asian camp? Seriously? Is anyone else as sad as I am that they got rid of Matt? Suck-o.**

**Oh and also I got a few comments on the prologue about people thinking Mama Puckerman was telling Puck to get into fights. She wasn't, she was just making a point that he does get into fights for stupid things all the time so why isn't he standing up for her. I'm not condoning violence here, it's just totally something I could see his mom saying to get him to protect a fellow sexy Jew.**

**Okay review or I'll slushy 1,000 white kittens with Cherry slushies so they'll be stained red forever!**


	3. Sealing Fates

_**Disclaimer- Puh-lease. If I owned Glee Mark Salling would never, EVER have his shirt on. **_

_**Warning- Language may be a bit intense for some people. If you get offended easily I'm sorry in advance.**_

_Open Your Eyes and See_

**Chapter Two:**

Puck didn't remember making the conscious decision to do it. At first he wasn't even completely sure why he did it. Maybe it was the look on her face or the way everyone (even Kurt and Mercedes) started laughing, some even pointing as though she were trapped in one of those horrible nightmares where you're naked in public (His are never like that though. Whenever he had a dream like that everyone just stared at him, the girls (and Kurt) in lust and the guys in jealousy). It might've even been because he'd been there. Granted it only happened the one time and he beat the little shits that did it into the ground but still he knew what it felt like to have slushy drip all the way into your underwear.

It could've been any of those things that sent him over the edge, but it wasn't. No, deep down he knew what really did it; what truly sealed those dicks fate was their raised voices calling out to her loud enough for the whole hallway to hear, "Go die bitch. No one wants you here anyways."

Their words would've been enough to seal their fate but the fact that nobody in the halls stood up for her, or even seemed to take what they said badly, choosing instead to laugh harder, some even going as far as to nod or even shout their agreement? Well in a way that sort of sealed hers.

Luckily Rachel was far enough out of the way that he didn't risk a stray punch (or kick, or knee or…well you get the picture) hitting her, and about the same moment Puck launched across the hallway Mike and Matt exchange a quick glance before making their way over towards Rachel. They'd tried helping her from afar long enough and though they'd attempted talking to her before with little to no real results they weren't planning on letting that stop them this time.

They two football players were flanking Rachel on either side, leading her towards the bathroom, and they probably would have made it if it wasn't for the sounds of cursing and grunting coming from behind them; sounds that both Mike and Matt were able to easily associate with a fight and it didn't take them long to figure out who was fighting. Rachel however was a little slower on the uptake, turning around once the whispering started and everyone's attention seemed to have been refocused somewhere other than on her. Still completely silent (which honestly was freaking the fuck out of Mike and Matt) she took a moment to take in the scene around her.

Within seconds the main hallway of William McKinley High School was had erupted into tense chatter, and excited murmurs as everyone pulled out their cellphones; some to video tape the scene unfolding in front of them and others so they could text their friends and tell them the latest gossip that was happening right in front of them. Mostly everyone was staring in disbelief at the scene, trying to figure out if this was actually happening or if they were all having some kind of crazy, alternate universe type dream. Even matt and Mike were shocked, not knowing exactly what was going on or what they were meant to do.

Everyone realized that this story would probably go down in William McKinley legend. They knew or at least they thought they knew) that one day people in that school would tell the story about how _the_ Noah 'Puck' Puckerman took down not one but two of the biggest, toughest and by most people's standards scariest defensive line men on their loosing football team and was able to beat the shit out of both of them. And because of Rachel _freakin' _Berry?

Rachel didn't know what to do. She wasn't really sure what was going on but she didn't like it. Eventually she was the one to stop the fight, tugging on Mike's sleeve like a child to get his attention and breaking him out of his daze. As soon as Mike took a moment to take in the situation from the point of view of _'holy crap that's my friend and he really can't afford to get suspended, plus this can only end badly' _and not from the point of view of _'holy crap I thought this kind of stuff only happened in the movies…now if only a hot chick would take her top off…'_ he smacked Matt's arm and the two of them dove into the pile up, pulling a fuming Puck off the two jocks as he continued to curse and try to connect one last punch or kick as Rachel stood stock still and shivering as red slush dripped off of her body.

She had no idea what could have possessed Puck to attack the two jocks, although she was fairly convinced that the timing of the incident was merely coincidence and had absolutely nothing to do with her, all she knew was that for some reason what Puck was doing would seem like he was defending her, which would most likely only make things worse for not only her but him as well, and Mike and matt (who had admittedly attempted to talk to her before) had rushed to her side automatically as though it was something they always did.

The situation seemed to be almost under control until one of her tormentors opened his mouth, the sound muffled by the hand he was using to try and stop the blood flow from his nose, "Big mistake asshole. You can't take on the entire football team and win and now you're stock just went down the drain. Fuckin' bitch better be one hell've a lay if you think she's worth all this 'cause let me tell you unless I decide to take her for a spin I'm pretty sure she's still better off dead. No one else wants her around. Fuckin' waste of space."

His words were all it took to set Puck off again as he struggled in his friends' holds, itching with everything he had in him to lay one last good punch as the two assholes walked away. Before he got the chance however Matt glanced towards Rachel, who'd been standing behind them, not acknowledging what was going after pulling on Mike's sleeve. Instead of seeing the small brunette, he saw a trail of slush that he assumed led to the girls bathroom, "Fuck!"

**A/N- I'm so, so, sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. Thing's've been a bit hectic this week because went back to school, plus I got pink eye because my sister's student teaching in 2****nd**** grade and she's bringing home all those little kid germs, plus I got a bit of writers block with this. Luckily, Chem is the perfect defender against writers block because lord knows I'd rather do ANYTHING than pay attention there. To make it up to you guys I'm going to try and get out a chapter for Brand New Me and Coyote Ugly by Monday. I make no promises however, because those are always like giant jinxes for me. **

**SPOILERS- Grilled Cheesus…I don't even know what to say. Other than the fact that Mark Salling singing Billy Joel is the hottest thing I've ever seen…since Harry Shum Jr's abs! Finn annoys me…like seriously I yell at the television, much to my sister's amusement. I wanna make a petition to Ryan Murphy to break up Finchel! I don't even care if they get her together with Puck (yet, because those two need to be end game) I just need her not to be with him. **

**Okay it's time for me to go work on the Chem Lab that I didn't do in class so I could write this. **

**Review or I'll slushy an entire class full of kindergartners. : )**


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